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The 4 Types of People You Will Meet as a Creator

I love having a feedback form here on TruthInjected. The sentiment in the messages that I receive are so varied, and it’s great to hear from the people who read what I write.

I have noticed some common themes in the messages that I have received, and my semi-autistic brain has sorted them into four distinct groups. If you are creating content, or are thinking about it, here are the main archetypes of people that you will meet.

I should note that this is written through the lens of creating online content, such as blogs, channels, and podcasts, given that it is the area that I am familiar with.

Active Followers

These people are your champions. They drop what they are doing when they get the notification that you have published something new, and consume said content with breath so bated you could catch fish with it.

If you create premium content, they are the ones who purchase it. If you do not have premium content, they are the ones who are constantly messaging you asking for more. They want to know when your book is being released, where they can get it, and would queue for an autograph in the snow – just because they like you and the content that you are creating.

And there’s a reason that every single YouTube video has a plea in the intro or outro to subscribe to their channel and turn on the notification bell – they are trying to get as many active followers as they possibly can.

Casual Followers

This category consists of people who are interested in the content that you create, and consume the parts of your output that they find useful. They won’t be nearly as evangelical in spreading your content or as heavily invested in your brand – by that I mean, they probably wouldn’t consume what you are creating if they had to pay for it, and they are less likely to buy a book that you wrote, just because you wrote it.

But before you decide to ignore your casual followers as fair-weather friends, it’s worth bearing in mind that they are likely the largest category of people who follow you and generally have lower expectations (ie. they won’t berate you for not publishing enough content). Due to their sheer volume, they will drive your traffic if you are working on a blog or YouTube channel, which boosts your reputation in search results and could garner some ad revenue.

Casual followers are the spring from which active followers flow. Most active followers will most likely have been casual followers when they first discovered you, so it’s worth ensuring that you cater to this market by producing some free content.

I have seen a lot of great ideas fail because the entry level product is too expensive (not free), which discourages casual followers, which in turn, results in no one investing in their premium content.

Useless Detractors

If you’re a content creator, you will have received those messages telling you to not quit your day job and go and play in traffic.

Congratulations! You’re on your way to the full set of followers.

The people who fall into this category are generally the type of people who nobody wants to be around, and even their own family secretly hopes that they slip on the bathmat one morning.

These are just awful people who you aren’t going to redeem. Their misery is so deeply etched into their character due to shitty genetics, a bad childhood, their wife cheating on them, drug and alcohol abuse, gaping insecurities, working a dead-end job, and their fucked-up big toe, that your aspiration to do something just grates them.

The best thing to do with these people is to just ignore them entirely. The problem is with them, not you.

Constructive Detractors

This group might hate your content as much as useless detractors, but aren’t quite as dead inside. More likely, they are followers who may actually want to see you do well, and will tell you directly what it is that they dislike about your content – either so that you can make improvements or just to make themselves feel better.

Either way, they are the most undervalued and incorrectly identified of all groups.

Regardless of their intention, they will tell you things about your content that your loyal followers are too “nice” to mention. If you can take on board the suggestions that these detractors make without getting butt-hurt about them not worshiping the ground that you walk on, they are the greatest catalyst to improvement.

They may never buy your premium products or give to your Patreon, but don’t throw them in the basket of “useless” because they may hurt your feelings. They provide some of the greatest feedback that you will receive.

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